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Sequestration Tracker: Guide to agency furloughs

Thursday - 8/22/2013, 11:00am EDT

In the weeks leading up to March 1, agencies across government have painted
increasingly dire pictures of life under sequestration. Along with hiring freezes,
spending reductions, and curtailed travel and training, many agencies are planning
for furloughs.

Below, find out how agencies have said they'll slash their budgets to comply with
the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts.

Have more information about how agencies plan to implement furloughs
and other cost-cutting measures? Or, do you have information about an agency not
on this list? Click here to email
us and let us know.

LAST UPDATED: Aug. 22, 2013

Agriculture Department

UPDATE: Officials at the Agriculture Department now say the agency
does not expect furloughs of USDA employees this year. The Farm Service agency was
able to avoid furloughs through a hiring freeze and cutting spending on operating
expenses and contracts. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked Congress for the
authority to shift funding from other budget accounts to avert furloughs in the
Rural Development division. Earlier this year, in a fiscal 2013 appropriations
bill, Congress approved funding to avert furloughs of employees in the
department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Commerce Department

The National Institute of Standards and Technology would face reductions in
spending on grants, contracts, equipment procurement and would be forced to let
positions go unfilled and to defer maintenance and repair of NIST facilities.

After initially planning for furloughs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Commerce announced Friday, May 31, that furloughs at the agency
would be cancelled.

Customs and Border Protection

UPDATE: Customs and Border Protection officials have postponed the issuing of furlough notices to
60,000 employees because of new funding granted in the 2013 appropriations bill.
The agency said it is now "reevaluating" the need for furloughs and the the
planned elimination of administratively uncontrollable overtime, or AUO.

Defense Department

UPDATE: The Department of Defense cut the number of furlough days for its civilian
employees from 11 days to six. For most of those DoD employees, their final day
took place the first week of August.

DoD reduced the number of days
it required its civilian workforce to be furloughed from 14 to 11 in July, and
expanded its list of employees who are exempt from the cash-saving measure.

The military services and defense agencies have already instituted
civilian hiring freezes and cut spending on travel, training and supplies.

Employees paid by non-appropriated funds were not expected to be
furloughed. Other employees exempt from furloughs included: civilians deployed in
combat zones, DoD civilians working on sexual-assault prevention, foreign
nationals, Senate-confirmed political employees and
civilians who are required to maintain safety of life or property. While
military pay will be unaffected by sequestration, DoD said readiness and training
would suffer.

Education Department

Education Department employees won't deal with furloughs this year, according to a
staff memo from Education Secretary Arne Duncan obtained by
Education Week.

Over two phases of furloughs, EPA employees were forced to take a total of 47
hours off. During phase one, EPA employees took 32 furlough hours. Phase two originally
scheduled EPA employees to take 47 furlough hours off, but the agency reduced that number to 23. With this final elimination, EPA
employees have been furloughed for about 15 hours during phase two.

EPA also put a hold on discretionary monetary awards for employees and
other incentives, but the agency will be able to offer time off awards and quality
step increases, albeit under a constrained budget.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

UPDATE: During Phase I of furloughs (April 22 to July 2) all 2,194
EEOC employees took five required furlough days. However, EEOC canceled round two of furloughs, which would have
meant three more unpaid days off for feds at the agency.

Federal Aviation Administration

Update: Congress approved a bill April 26 that allows the agency
to use funding originally slated for airport improvement to avert the furlough of
air traffic controllers.

FBI

UPDATE: On April 24, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Justice would not need to
furlough employees during the current fiscal year. He said the department was able
to avoid furloughs thanks to money it received from recently enacted legislation
combined with a hiring freeze and cuts to contracting and other costs.

Food and Drug Administration

UPDATE: The Food and Drug Administration says that it will not have to cut back on
inspections of food-processing plants. Earlier this year, the agency estimated
that as many as 2,100 plant inspections would need to be cancelled.

Government Accountability
Office

Under sequestration, GAO would be forced to forego its hiring plans for a
third
year in a row. That would shrink GAO's workforce to below 2,900 — a level it
hasn't seen since the 1930s, according to congressional testimony by
Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. GAO would also be forced to cut funding for
performance awards, travel, and IT enhancement programs. GAO says furloughs are
last resort.

Government Printing Office

Public Printer Davita Vance-Cook told a House Appropriations subcommittee
GPO is taking several steps to prepare for sequestration. GPO plans to implement
freezes in a number of areas: hiring, overtime, bonuses, training, travel and
nonessential maintenance. Employee furloughs would be a last resort, Vance-Cook
told Congress. If furloughs are implemented, GPO would also reduce its contractor
workforce as well, she said.

Health and Human Services Department

Because many HHS activities are carried out through grants that are typcially
awarded toward the end of the fiscal year, HHS program managers are working with
grantees and other partners to manage the cuts. All Medicare payments to service
providers (with a few exceptions) are subject to a 2 percent cut. HHS has not
issued any official furlough notices and the agency has not made any specific
decisions about implementing furloughs in the future, according to an HHS
spokeswoman.

Homeland Security Department

The Homeland Security Department "has examined every human resource tool
available to reduce expenditures," a spokeswoman told Federal News Radio. That
includes hiring freezes, eliminated or reduced overtime and the elimination of
employee performance awards. Furloughs may be necessary, the spokeswoman said,
"absent reprogramming requests and to minimize impacts on core missions."

In March, HUD announced it would furlough all 9,000 of its employees for
seven days between May and August to offset automatic budget cuts due to
sequestration. The original seven furlough dates were scheduled for May 10 and 24;
June 14; July 5 and 22; and Aug. 16 and 30.

Interior Department

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said thousands of Interior employees would
be furloughed, while thousands more seasonal workers would not be hired.

"We have made substantial progress in cutting costs. … Our progress is such that
we have decided to postpone the furlough day scheduled for Aug. 30. We still have
more work to do on the budget and cost-savings, so we will reevaluate in early
September and make a final determination as to whether we will need another
furlough day in September," Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said, in the
email.

Thanks to cost-cutting measures, the agency already canceled the furlough day scheduled for July 22.

Back in April, IRS announced its plans to furlough all of its 90,000
employees on five specific furlough days through the end of August. The furlough
days were originally scheduled for May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22 and Aug. 30.

Justice Department

UPDATE: On April 24, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Justice would not need to furlough employees
during the current fiscal year. He said the department was able to avoid furloughs
thanks to money it received from recently enacted legislation combined with a
hiring freeze and cuts to contracting and other costs.

Earlier, Holder said would postpone until mid-April a decision
about whether to furlough any Justice Department employees. In a memo to all
employees, Holder says the department is still working on how best to deal with
automatic budget cuts of $1.6 billion that became effective March 1. Earlier,
Holder announced furloughs of federal
prison staffers would be averted by moving $150 million from other Justice
Department accounts.

Labor Department

Federal Times reported that 4,700 Labor Department employees
received furlough notices on March 5. That accounts for approximately 28 percent
of the agency's total workforce.
According to Acting Secretary Seth Harris, the department is
reducing travel and training expenses. DoL has also halted performance awards and
will curtail some contract spending. "But it is clear from the size of the
sequester that not all agencies will be able to find the savings required," Harris
said. "These agencies will be forced to place staff on unpaid furloughs."

NASA

Update: NASA does not plan to resort furloughs in the short term, a
NASA spokesman told Federal News Radio. To comply with the budget cuts, NASA has
reduced travel and conference attendance and has reviewed spending on education
and public-outreach activities. NASA Administrator
Charles Bolden told lawmakers in recent budget hearings that NASA may have to
consider furloughs if sequestration continues into fiscal 2014.

NOAA

UPDATED: Furloughs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
were cancelled Friday, May 31. Originally, all 12,000 of the
agency's employees, including feds at the National Weather Service, were to be furloughed for four days.

National Science Foundation

Director of the National Science Foundation Subra Suresh said NSF aims to protect
"core principles" — such as the NSF workforce and science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) workforce development efforts.However, that means
grant spending and research and development funding would suffer, he told the Senate Appropriations Committee. NSF would also
likely terminate approximately $35 million in contracts. "This would directly lead
to layoffs of dozens of direct scientific and technical staff, with larger impacts
at supplier companies," Suresh wrote in a letter to Congress.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will not furlough staff because of
sequestration nor will the cuts impact the agency's safety mission. However, the
agency will be forced to forego new grants to universities and would delay IT
infrastructure upgrades.

Office of Management and Budget

The Office of Management and Budget reduced the number of its original 10 furlough days by two
days. So far, OMB employees have taken seven furlough days. One additional
furlough day is planned before Sept. 30 for OMB's 480 employees. Furloughs started
on April 21.

Office of Personnel Management

UPDATE: The Office of Personnel Management says sequestration cuts
have forced the agency to curtail call-center hours and to suspend overtime hours
for its Retirement Services employees. That could lead to further delays in OPM's
retirement-processing efforts.

Office of Personnel Management officials have, so far, made no plans to furlough
employees. OPM has implemented a hiring freeze and will seek other operational and
administrative cost reductions to avoid furloughs.

Small Business Administration

Employees at the Small Business Administration will likely be spared from sequestration furloughs,
according to Karen Mills, the head of the agency. Mills said a round of early
retirements allowed the agency to cut staff, negating the need for furloughs.

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian, the world's largest museum complex, is prepared to absorb the
sequestration cuts without furloughing employees or reducing
hours at its facilities. The Smithsonian will freeze hiring and reduce training,
research and travel. In addition, the Smithsonian will delay maintenance and new
construction, and reduce its use of contractors.

Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration has instituted a hiring freeze, limited
overtime, and reduced
agency travel. Because of this, SSA hopes to avoid furloughs, Acting
SSA Commissioner Carolyn Colvin said in a note to staff.

State Department

UPDATE: The State Department now says it will not need to furlough any employees this fiscal
year due to sequestration. State's share of the budget cuts — $400 million
— ended up being less than half what original estimates called for.
Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy has taken steps to curtail
spending, including reducing travel and conference spending, filling only one of
every two new job vacancies and adjusting building temperatures.

Transportation Department

Update: Congress approved a bill April 26 that allows the agency
to use funding originally slated for airport improvement to avert the furlough of
air traffic controllers.

Transportation Security Administration

UPDATE: TSA Deputy Administrator John W. Halinski told a House
Oversight and Government Reform committee recently that TSA does not anticipate
any furloughs. The agency reduced spending through "managed hiring practices and
control of overtime," Halinski told lawmakers.

Veterans Affairs Department

The Veterans Affairs Department is mostly exempt from sequestration. However,
VA's administrative costs will be
subject to sequestration.